Residents call for government buyouts in hard-hit High River neighbourhoods

David Fraser, Calgary Herald07.29.2013

Kelly Janzen examines the basement in his mould-infested home on Hamptons Common in High River. Many of his neighbours are now struggling to decide whether to abandon their homes or try to remediate them.Gavin Young
/ Calgary Herald

John Labelle wore protective gear as he entered his mould-infested home on Hamptons Place in High River. Many Hampton Hills homeowners are struggling over whether to abandon their houses or try to remediate them.Gavin Young
/ Calgary Herald

Children’s bikes lie on the front lawn of one of the two dozen homes on Hamptons Common in High River. Many residents here are trying to decide whether to abandon their homes or try to remediate them.Gavin Young
/ Calgary Herald

Upset residents in High River’s Sunrise and Hampton Hills neighbourhoods met with their MLA, Danielle Smith, to learn more about what options they have to remediate their homes.Gavin Young
/ Calgary Herald

Kelly Janzen stands in the doorway of his home on Hamptons Common in High River. More than two dozen homes on the street were partially submerged for weeks after the massive June floods and have been declared unfit for habitation.Gavin Young
/ Calgary Herald

Upset residents in High River’s Sunrise and Hampton Hills neighbourhoods met with their MLA, Danielle Smith, to learn more about what options they have to remediate their homes.Gavin Young
/ Calgary Herald

HIGH RIVER — Save for the odd truck driving by, most of High River’s Hampton Hills neighbourhood looks like a ghost town.

And large pockets may stay deserted, if homeowners get their wish for a government buyout of their flood-damaged properties.

Household objects — a barbecue, children’s toys and couches — litter streets in the northeast community, which was among the hardest-hit areas when the Highwood River overflowed its banks last month.

On Hamptons Commons alone, more than two dozen homes were partially submerged for weeks after the massive June floods. Several houses in the community are still deemed uninhabitable.

Residents weren’t given even limited access to their homes until three weeks after the historic deluge.

Many who returned couldn’t fathom ever living in their homes again.

Greg Tymchyna resides in this neighbourhood. Unable to live in his own house and unwilling to remediate, Tymchyna is hoping the Alberta government will buy him out.

“I know for a fact I’ll never move my family back here again,” said Tymchyna, a father of four young children.

Tymchyna’s house was once a “dream home” for him and his wife. Now it’s home to mould and mud.

“It’s sewage, it’s mould. Everything that shouldn’t be in your house, it’s in there,” he said.

Tymchyna isn’t alone in wishing for a buyout. At a community meeting hosted Saturday by Highwood MLA Danielle Smith, several Hampton residents called for the province to buy them out.

Instead, they’re being told to remediate their houses.

Rick Fraser, Associate Minister of Recovery and Reconstruction for High River, has repeatedly said buying out neighbourhoods would be a fiscal challenge and make it harder to salvage communities.

Smith said the government’s assessment that the homes can be rebuilt is at odds with some reports done by privately hired engineers.

“People don’t want to move back into a home if it can’t be resold, if it can’t be fully remediated, if it’s not structurally sound,” said Smith, leader of the Wildrose Party.

On Sunday, Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths said the government will pay for complete rebuilds only if it is less expensive than repairing the home.

Kelly Janzen had almost a metre of water on his main floor. Everything from his countertops down was damaged. Unwilling to wait on the government for help, he had his insurance company start gutting his house.

The hardwood and carpets were removed. The basement was totally gutted. Then officials from Alberta Health Services told him he wasn’t allowed in the house.

“I wasn’t told anything, just that I had to drop everything and leave,” he said.

“They boarded up my garage and it’s sitting there.”

Janzen said the whole process has been “a frustrating circle of back and forth.”

Now, he’s unsure what his options are.

Terevita, the firm contracted for $45 million by the province to do the immediate cleanup of High River, came to Janzen’s house on July 24.

“They said I had a choice of using them, and if I didn’t sign the waiver to use them, then I was on my own with no help. It would come out of my own pocket,” he said.

According to Janzen, water was still coming into his house when the report, which claims his house is redeemable, was filled out.

“None of this is checked,” he said while pointing to a whole page in the report.

Like Tymchyna and the majority of Hampton residents, Janzen wants the province to buy him out of his house.

“It’s a sad state of affairs. Everywhere you go in this community, you just don’t want to be here.” he said.

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Residents call for government buyouts in hard-hit High River neighbourhoods

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